Page 1347 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 1993
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Madam Speaker, Mr Stevenson, also at the start of his comments, made a very strong pitch about the cost of self-government and the cost of the functions that are carried out by this Assembly. He seemed to me to be making a plea to the electorate to let somebody else pay for it all; if only we did not have self-government we would not have to pay for our own health, education and policing costs. Madam Speaker, I do not regard those comments by Mr Stevenson as merely naive; I regard them as totally misleading and disingenuous. He knows perfectly well that, even were those functions to be carried out by the Commonwealth or by New South Wales or by some other body on our behalf, it would be the citizens of the ACT who footed the bill. The only difference would be that we would have no control over that bill. I think Mr Stevenson is really attempting to mislead whatever remaining constituency he may have left.
Madam Speaker, the Government will not be supporting Mr Stevenson's motion. We consider it to be fundamentally flawed both in its concept and in its very terms. Mr Stevenson, as I mentioned before, has not related his argument to the terms of the motion.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! It being 12.30 pm, the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 77 as amended by temporary order.
Sitting suspended from 12.30 to 2.30 pm
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Campbell Child-Care Centre
MRS CARNELL: My question is to the Chief Minister. The Government recently spent a total of $450,356 on the refurbishment of the Campbell child-care centre. The YWCA, who manage the child-care centre, pay no rent on the premises, yet operate it as a commercial enterprise. Given that the fee charged by them is $136 per week and that this fee is roughly the same as the fees charged by other child-care centres, why did the Government spend nearly half a million dollars refurbishing the centre, which is operating as a commercial enterprise and charging the same fees as commercial enterprises, yet paying no rent to the ACT Government and therefore returning the ACT Government no dividend?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Mrs Carnell for the question. The reason why we have refurbished the Campbell Preschool into a child-care centre, and in fact the Acton child-care centre as well, is quite straightforward. It is this Government's wish, and in fact an election commitment that we gave, to provide child-care for the employees of the ACT Government Service. That is the prime purpose of both the Acton and the Campbell child-care centres. The Campbell Preschool required extensive refurbishment to create a viable and appropriate child-care centre. Mrs Carnell is correct in the cost of $450,356. That cost was substantially more than, say, the Acton centre, which had previously operated as a child-care centre.
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